the fourth dimension

We are in our own universe
Whether or not we dwell in the same space.
Evolving, we write our story
With no introduction
With no final chapter
We continue on to a distant, curved horizon
Beyond which nothing is known.

...the author

I think we develop stories during our lives to help us make sense of what occurs. Sometimes, the stories explain the seemingly unfair. Sometimes, the stories end happily, with an unexpected favorable turn. Other times, the stories culminate with a predictably painful outcome. Rarely, a miracle happens, and what was evil is turned to good.

Our stories are told with meaning in mind. Over the eons, brain evolution gave rise to the conscious state, and we now reason through our meager lifespan. “This thing has meaning.” “We are here for a purpose.” “You have a divine destiny.” “This thing was pre-ordained.” These most often refer to some higher power, some entity that micromanages our every moment.

Do I believe those kinds of stories? Not really, although I was brought up in a religious home, and taught to believe. Believe in God, believe in the Son of God, believe in the Holy Spirit, believe in the Devil and his awful Demons. Believe in Temptation and Sin and perhaps, Forgiveness of Those Sins.

I saved a scrap of paper I tore out of a newspaper some fifteen years ago. I rarely do that – tear up a publication – somehow, it goes against my grain. But I remember how the letter to an editor, titled “Religion” and that I eagerly snipped, rang so true. I remember stopping, pondering. I remember being rooted to my chair as I read it over and over. I still agree with it to this day.

…a great example of human failing is insisting on knowing what nobody really knows, i.e., is there or isn’t there something known as ‘God,’ or ‘gods’? For thousands of years countless societies from the most ancient to the contemporary have tried to credit – or blame – mythical, unprovable beings known as ‘gods’ for the creation and operation of all that is in the universe. Each group arrogantly insists that its myth is the theologically correct myth and all others are false. Millions of people have killed and tortured each other in the name of their various ‘faiths.’ (‘Faith means ‘I believe what I believe because I believe it. No proof or logic is needed.’) ‘Homo sapiens’ we call our species – it means ‘wise men.’ If we really were, we would allow the ‘answer to it all’ to remain a beautiful mystery and thankfully and peacefully enjoy it.

--Walt Hopmans, Santa Barbara resident and writer of poetry, plays, television scripts, and other works, and author of Some Poems and Some Pictures (1989) and Some Zen Zingers (2001).

Comfort arises from belief systems that promise an endless existence. For many years I have knowingly avoided the question of death and the possibility of an afterlife. Mostly because I like too many people who believe in an afterlife, and I didn’t want to offend or hurt them. But even though it’s true that no tangible proof exists to support an afterlife, whether it be as invisible entities or as reincarnated creatures, millions of people still cling to the notion that individuals are transformed at death and their lives are continued in some other state: Life Goes On.

But does it? And more importantly, does my belief that it does – or doesn’t – change whether it does? As Mr. Hopmans so eloquently put it, I choose to let the answer to that question remain a beautiful mystery, and instead thankfully and peacefully enjoy it.